Daily Tech Bits

The Hidden Secrets Of Backing Up (Windows)

Yesterday I talked about backup options for your laptop, but knowing how you backup is only half the battle.  It’s also important to know what to backup, especially if you are running Windows. It’s pretty obvious that you will backup your documents, photos and music which will usually be stored in the folders of the same name on your computer. Keep a check for any folders installed by programs. For example, WIndows Live Writer creates a folder in My Documents where it stores all your blog posts.

Another key location is the desktop. Many of us drag files there temporarily and use it as a workspace, so it’s a key place for backing up.

One of the things I learned the hard way is that Windows hides your files by default. The first thing I do with a new laptop or PC is open a folder, go to the tools menu and open folder options.  Under the view tab, there’s a list of functions. I check ’show hidden files and folders’ so I can see everything that’s in a folder. The reason for this is that when I’m ready to backup, there are a couple of hidden files that have important data.

All your customized settings are hidden in two folders - local settings and application data, but you don’t see these unless you enable hidden file viewing. Once you’ve done that you can copy the application data folder to your backup medium. This is useful for restoring data such as your FTP settings (re-entering them by hand can be a pain if you manage a lot of sites), your browser extensions and your email folders. Backing these up can save you a lot of time and trouble.

Backup Options For Your Laptop

A long time ago I learned the hard way about the wisdom of backing up your data and of having a backup for those backups. I was glad I did when I had to wipe my laptop recently and restore some of the data. Here are the backup options I use:

One of my chief tools is MozyBackup, an online backup service that offers a free amount of storage. By being careful about what I backup, I’ve managed to make that last over the last couple of years. I set it to backup daily at the time I usually have lunch, and after the first backup it is very quick.

I also have a portable hard drive, where I keep copies of everything I’m working on. Periodically (it should be weekly but is often monthly) I make a new backup folder and put everything in it. I also keep a ‘work in progress’ folder where in theory I copy everything I’ve worked on that day.

Google also helps me with backups. One of the quickest ways to save a copy of an individual document is to paste the content into an email or attach it to an email in Gmail. You can send it to yourself or save it in drafts. Alternatively, you can upload it and save it to Google Docs and Spreadsheets.

Finally, there’s a DVD or CD. It never hurts to have an additional copy of your data, so from time to time it’s worth using a DVD or CD to archive stuff you don’t need every day but you still don’t want to lose.

I like to think that with all these options I’ll always have access to the data I need. However, there’s more to backing up than choosing the medium. I’ll be looking at that in another post.